BELGRADE, Serbia - Serb rioters broke into the U.S. Embassy Thursday and set fire to an office after a massive protest against Kosovo's independence that drew an estimated 150,000 people.

Masked attackers broke into the building, which has been closed this week, and tried to throw furniture from an office. A blaze broke out inside one of the offices and parts of the facade also caught fire.

Authorities drove armored jeeps down the street and fired tear gas to clear the crowd. The protesters dispersed into side streets where they continued clashing with authorities.

The neighboring Croatian Embassy also was attacked by the same group of protesters.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack strongly urged the Serbian government to protect the U.S. Embassy. He said the U.S. ambassador was at his home and was in contact with U.S. officials.

More than a dozen nations have recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence on Sunday, including the United States, Britain, France and Germany.

But the declaration by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership has been rejected by Serbia's government and the ethnic Serbians who populate northern Kosovo. Russia, China and numerous other nations have also condemned the declaration, saying it sets a precedent that separatist groups around the world will seek to emulate.

Kosovo, which is 90 percent ethnic Albanian, has not been under Belgrade's control since 1999, when NATO launched airstrikes to halt a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. A U.N. mission has governed Kosovo since, with more than 16,000 NATO troops and KFOR, a multiethnic force, policing the province.

But Serbia  and Kosovo's Serbs, who make up less than 10 percent of Kosovo's population  refuse to give up Kosovo, a territory considered the ancient cradle of Serbs' state and religion.

Earlier Thursday, police estimated that about 150,000 people had attended a rally in the Serbian capital. The crowd waved Serbian flags and carried signs reading "Stop USA terror." One group set fire to a red-and-black Albanian flag.

The U.S. embassy in Belgrade burns after masked attackers broke into the building and set an office on fire at the end of a massive protest against Western-backed Kosovo independence, in the Serbian capital, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008. More than 150,000 Serbs gathered at the rally vowing to retake the territory which is viewed as Serbia's religious and national heartland. (AP Photo)

No. Destruction of US government property and the corresponding lack of protection by the Serbian government makes it an act of war, no matter if no American was harmed. Personally I understand why the Serbs are pissed off. I live in a state that Mexico would love to have back, so I don’t think it’s OK for us to recognize Kosovo as independent.

24
posted on 02/21/2008 11:16:04 AM PST
by RKV
(He who has the guns makes the rules)

You mean like what happened to Serbs in Kosovo after the USA violated all tradition and principle in asserting the right of irredentism of the ALbanians in Kosovo?

So, when the UN bombs the hell out of Washington, DC and other American cities for trying to keep hold of the American Southwest after it declares itself a free country, I guess you’ll make sure to accuse the Americans of genocide and rape.

There was no mass slaughter in Kosovo. Bosnia and that war? Sure. But Kosovo? It simply wasn’t true.

The residents of the Balkans have raised grudge-holding to an art form. You think we native Southerners hold grudges against “Yankees” from the Recent Unpleasantness? Over in that end of Europe, they’re still fighting blood feuds over things that happened eight hundred years ago.

And we are supporting a Stalinist Albano Wetdream..
Enver Hoxha, a communist, embraced ideas of internationalism and brotherhood among different peoples. This point of view made Hoxha very close to Yugoslavian communists during World War II and afterwards until the break-up of 1948. Such ideals are thought to be the reason why Hoxha decided to fight against Albanian nationalists who pushed for a greater Albania. However, especially in the 1980s, Hoxha used several speeches to gain popularity among Albanians in Yugoslavia. During the demonstrations in Kosovo in 1981, ethnic Albanians of Yugoslavia largely identified with Enver Hoxha as a symbol of nationalism, and regarded Albania, which they had no opportunity to visit, as a very prosperous country where human rights and equality were widely respected.[9]

From Wikipeia

49
posted on 02/21/2008 11:22:15 AM PST
by RadioCirca1970
(ISLAM and its Adherents ARE the enemy: Teach your kids Before their learn the hard way!)

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